Invasion of Electric Scooters Hits Santa Barbara’s State Street

It’s official; they’re coming. In fact, they’re already here.

Last Friday, 100 lime-green electric scooters mysteriously showed up on State Street sidewalks to be picked up and ridden by anyone with a few bucks and the capacity to download apps. As usual, the city mothers and fathers were up in arms and began impounding the alien intruders almost immediately. In the first three days, no fewer than 150 were seized and locked up. Proper permits had not been obtained. In Santa Barbara, the only semi-spontaneous act still tolerated is that of dying.

A few months ago, electric scooters as a mass phenomenon didn’t exist. Now, it seems, they’re everywhere, choking sidewalks ​— ​to hear some talk of it ​— ​in cities all over California. They are at once exceptionally utilitarian and irresistibly exhilarating. In other words, they are here to stay.